Ted Nugent's wife could face felony charge for airport gun bust

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The wife of rock guitarist Ted Nugent could face a felony weapons charge in North Texas after airport police caught her going through a security line at a Dallas-area airport with a loaded pistol, according to a police report released on Friday.

Shemane Nugent, 51, told authorities that she forgot that the Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver, packed in its case with 10 extra rounds, was in her bag when she prepared to board a flight Thursday morning to Fort Lauderdale from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Texas.

The police report did not say if Ted Nugent, equally well known for his outspoken advocacy of guns and hunting rights, as well as his 1970s hit songs "Stranglehold" and "Cat Scratch Fever," was traveling with his wife.

After a security officer with the Transportation Safety Administration saw the gun inside the bag as it went through an X-ray machine, police asked about the bag's contents.

"She immediately stated, 'I know what the problem is. I forgot the gun was in the bag,'" according to the police report.

Nugent told officers that "she had received death threats and had been carrying the weapon for protection," and that she usually used the bag to go to the gym, the police report said.

Nugent, who reported that she carries a valid concealed handgun license, was handcuffed and arrested by the airport's public safety officers on a third-degree felony weapons charge, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

Her attorney told the Dallas Morning News that it was an honest mistake and that he doubted she would be indicted by a grand jury.